Some of disk drives for reading and writing information from/on a disk storage medium such as an optical disk or a magneto-optical disk adopt a mechanism for loading and unloading the given storage medium into/from the drive using a tray. Another type of disk drives, having a so-called “slot-in” mechanism for automatically loading the given storage medium that has been partially inserted into an inserting slot, are also known.
Each of these disk drives has a structure for raising and lowering a read/write pickup or a turntable that rotates and drives the given disk such that neither the pickup nor the turntable contacts with the tray or the disk being inserted into, or ejected from, the drive.
For example, Patent Document No. 1 discloses a structure for raising and lowering the pickup by defining an axis of rotation for a pickup supporting member (traverse holder) that supports the pickup and swinging the traverse holder around the axis of rotation.
On the other hand, Patent Document No. 2 discloses a structure for raising and lowering the pickup by supporting the pickup supporting member with a leaf spring in the drive and utilizing the elastic deformation of the leaf spring.
Furthermore, Patent Document No. 3 adopts a structure in which a base supports the pickup supporting member (disk player portion) with four elastic portions, thereby reducing the transmission of vibrations to the pickup supporting member. Patent Document No. 3 also proposes that the pickup supporting member be raised and lowered using two out of the four elastic portions as the fulcrums of rotation.    Patent Document No. 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-208748    Patent Document No. 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 10-112104    Patent Document No. 3: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 4-98646